Gwen Carpenter does quiliting on her porch of house boat
22049.jpg
Gwen Carpenter at Pajo Curry’s house on River
Gwen Carpenter at sunrise on deck of house barge
Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana, USA
Calvin and Gwens houseboat at sunrise on Bloody Bayou
Atchafalaya Basin; Louisiana
Gwen Carpenter and her whippet on her house barge and swamp
Gwen Carpenter cuts firewood for wood stove
Gwen Carpenter tends her garden
Gwen Carpenter feeds chickens
Atchafalaya Basin; Louisiana
Gwen driving bateau to hoop nets
Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana
Calvin Voisin and Gwen Carpenter heading to crawfish traps on rainy day
Calvin and Gwen roasting sausage and vegetables over campfire behind the house boat they lived on in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Gwen Carpenter gathering eggs
Note: Chickens on boardwalk during flood
Calvin Voison checking hoopnet as Gwen Carpenter drives boat.
Portrait of Calvin Voison and Gwen Carpenter
Gwen Carpenter on deck of her houseboat at sunrise
Gwen Carpenter feeds chicken.
Gwen Carpenter, in her swinging bed, with her dog, Emilou on the screen porch of house barge in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Calvin Voisin and Gwen Carpenter’s houseboat on a barge in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Calvin and Gwen in in their cypress bateau on small slew off Jake’s Bayou
Calvin and Gwens house barge on Bloody Bayou
Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana
Gwen and Calvin relax in pirogue in water hyacinth covered Sawyer’s Cove
Calvin and Gwen on the house barge screened porch
Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana
Sir, I was listening to your interview on AM 710 KEEL Radio last night and enjoyed hearing of your experience and advice. Question, do you have photos of life on the Red River here in Louisiana? I work for the Army Corps of Engineers in Shreveport, LA at the J. Bennett Johnson Red River Visitor Center. I have lots of visitors that stop by to watch our video of the Red but they do not know what it looks like outside the city limits.
Richard Blanton
Mr. Blanton,
I have not done much on the Red River. Will look in the files next time I am in the office, but I do not remember anything of consequence in the library.
Have always want to take a boat trip from Shreveport to the Atchafalaya on the Red.
CC
The last photo captures more than words could ever express. Gwen looks directly at the camera with fearlessness.
It’s rare that you see a story and their pictures so beautifully intertwined. I’ll be 65 this year. About 12-13 years ago I ran across your photos of Atchafalaya Houseboat and they struck a very deep nerve. Only recently had events come together where people I hadn’t seen since my youth surfaced, some of which left the rat race like Calvin and Gwen. I never had that courage even though I so admired those people that did. All these years later what you all thought were private or forgotten lives now inspire people. Who would have thought?